ATHENS (Reuters) – Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed in a phone conversation on Sunday to maintain contact during talks between Athens and its lenders to reach a debt deal, a Greek government official said. “During ... More »
OSCHERSLEBEN, Germany (Reuters) – Michael Schumacher’s 16-year-old son Mick sprayed the winner’s champagne after capping an impressive debut weekend in German Formula Four with the first victory of his motor racing career on Sunday. Competing for the Dutch-bas... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – “We’re going bust.” “No, you’re not.” “You’re strangling us.” “No we’re not.” “You owe us for World War Two.” “We gave already.” The game of chicken between Greece and its international creditors is turning into a vicious blame game as Ath... More »
RIGA (Reuters) – Euro zone finance ministers warned Greece on Friday that its leftist government will get no more aid until it agrees a complete economic reform plan, as Athens lurches closer to bankruptcy. Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis faced a harsh... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Teva Pharmaceutical Industries’ bid for Mylan NV would create a company controlling nearly 25 percent of the U.S. generics market, including drugs in short supply, according to industry experts and a Reuters review of regulatory filings. B... More »
KIEV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s military accused pro-Russian rebels on Monday of using heavy weapons that were meant to have been withdrawn under a ceasefire deal, after one Ukrainian serviceman was killed and six wounded in rebel-held territories. With fighting in... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – German novelist Guenter Grass, the Nobel Prize-winning author of “The Tin Drum”, an epic treatment of the Nazi era, died on Monday at the age of 87, his publishers said. A broad-shouldered man with a drooping mustache, Grass spurned the Germ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. senators scrambled to shore up bipartisan support for a controversial Iran nuclear bill before a committee meeting on Tuesday that could determine whether the legislation will survive President Barack Obama’s promised veto. The Sena... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told skeptical Republicans and Democrats on Monday that the U.S. Congress should give him another two and a half months to secure a final nuclear deal with Iran. In a closed briefing with the full House... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – A German musical celebrating 20 of the top hits from pop star Udo Juergens has become the show to see in Berlin after the German-speaking world’s answer to Frank Sinatra died at the age of 80 late last year. The musical “Ich war noch niemals... More »
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece’s finance ministry dismissed on Sunday a report by a German newspaper which said that euro zone officials were shocked at Greece’s failure to outline plans for structural reforms at last week’s talks in Brussels. The mood between Gree... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Even if it survives the next three months teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, Greece may have blown its best chance of a long-term debt deal by alienating its euro zone partners when it most needed their support. Prime Minister Alexis Ts... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Euro zone officials were shocked at Greece’s failure to outline plans for structural reforms at last week’s talks in Brussels, a German newspaper on Saturday cited participants as saying, adding the Greek representative behaved like a “taxi ... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Tokyoites will get a chance to zip around town on Toyota Motor Corp’s three-wheeled electric car-motorbike from Friday, in a trial aimed at crafting a global business model to reduce gridlock and pollution. The world’s top-selling automaker w... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – French media conglomerate Vivendi is looking at a possible acquisition of pay-TV group Sky, as one of several options to expand the reach of its own TV group Canal Plus, three sources familiar with the matter said. Vivendi has turned its... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Price discounting drove growth in all of the euro zone’s major economies in March, helping business activity increase at its fastest rate for nearly a year, a survey showed on Tuesday. New orders came in at their fastest rate since May 2011 ... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – Holcim (HOLN.VX) looked at buying Germany’s HeidelbergCement (HEIG.DE) towards the end of 2013 before agreeing to merge with France’s Lafarge (LAFP.PA), a Swiss newspaper reported on Sunday, citing two sources. Then-Holcim chairman Rolf Soir... More »
ATHENS (Reuters) – Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Monday appealed for an “honest compromise” with lenders but warned Greece would not agree to an “unconditional” one, after its biggest creditor demanded it do more to show commitment to reform. With its cash ... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – Germany’s BMG music rights company said on Monday it had signed a music digital distribution deal with China’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA.N), as the world’s largest e-commerce firm firms up its bid to become a digital media empire. The... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – A pensioner has started digging in Germany’s western Ruhr region for the Amber Room, a priceless work of art looted by Nazis from the Soviet Union during World War Two and missing for 70 years, but says he needs a new drill to help him. Dubb... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Chances of Greece leaving the euro zone in the next 12 months are the highest since late 2012 even though Athens’s financial lifeline has been extended, a survey of investors based mainly in Germany showed on Tuesday. The survey of 980 indiv... More »
ATHENS/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Germany rejected a Greek proposal for a six-month extension to its euro zone loan agreement on Thursday, saying it was “not a substantial solution” because it did not commit Athens to stick to the conditions of its international bai... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks markets around the world clung to modest gains on Thursday, with European equities retreating from seven-year highs, after Germany rejected a Greek proposal to extend its bailout and as oil prices dropped. Government borrowing costs... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The European Central Bank faces resistance from Germany to allowing any extra emergency lending for Greek banks, people familiar with the matter said, increasing pressure on Athens to sign up to an extended aid-for-reform program. After t... More »
BRUSSELS/ATHENS (Reuters) – A war of words between Greece and EU paymaster Germany escalated on Tuesday with Athens’ new leftist prime minister rejecting what he called “blackmail” to extend an international bailout and vowing to rush through laws to reverse l... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said in a radio interview on Monday that he was not very optimistic that Greece and its euro zone partners would reach a debt agreement at a meeting in Brussels later in the day. Asked if the Eur... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said on Monday that Germany’s firm position on Greece’s debt position was right in some ways, but the euro zone must also respect the change of government in Greece. “The Germans are right from a certain p... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s euroskeptic Alternative for Germany (AfD) party may win seats in its first western state on Sunday, buoyed by worries Greece’s new anti-austerity government could unleash a fresh wave of turmoil in the euro zone. The right-leaning ... More »
BERLIN/PARIS (Reuters) – Germany’s economy grew by a robust 0.7 percent in the last quarter of 2014, well above forecasts, while French economic activity continued to languish, official data showed on Friday. The revival of Europe’s largest economy followed st... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A forecast-smashing growth reading from Germany sent stock markets higher and low-rated bond yields lower on Friday, putting global equities on track for a second straight week of gains. The euro edged higher, on course for a third week of g... More »
BREMEN, Germany (Reuters) – The new Greek government’s anti-bailout stance has sent shudders through much of Europe but Germany’s euroskeptic AfD party can hardly believe its good fortune ahead of a regional election as a breakup of the euro zone suddenly appe... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has confirmed he will attend celebrations in Russia in May marking the Soviet victory over Germany in World War Two, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said on Wednesday, citing a Kremlin spokesman. The trip woul... More »
DETROIT (Reuters) – Germany’s Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) said on Sunday global December sales rose 2.7 percent to 881,000 vehicles as sales across VW’s multi-brand group rose on faster growth in China and Europe that outweighed falling sales in the United States a... More »
BERLIN/LONDON (Reuters) – Germany’s Angela Merkel played down the chances of a Greek exit from the euro zone on Wednesday, but made clear she expected Athens to stick to the terms of its international bailouts after this month’s election. The chancellor addres... More »
BERLIN/PARIS (Reuters) – Evoking a possible Greek exit from the euro zone, Germany and France are taking a coordinated and calculated risk in the hope of averting a leftist victory in Greece’s general election on Jan. 25. The intention, according to Michael Hu... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union will not water down its strict geographic food names under a far-reaching trade deal with the United States despite a suggestion by Germany’s farm minister that not every style of sausage could be protected, the EU execu... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German flagship carrier Lufthansa (LHAG.DE ) canceled 1,350 flights, or 48 percent of scheduled services, for Monday and Tuesday as its pilots prepared to go on strike, their ninth walkout this year. The canceled short-, medium- and long-... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany has approved Canadian smartphone maker Blackberry’s (BB.TO ) planned acquisition of Secusmart, the encryption technology of which is used to protect the mobile devices of top politicians including Chancellor Angela Merkel. The deal i... More »
FRANKFURT/LONDON (Reuters) – The Western world’s first gene therapy drug is set to go on sale in Germany with a 1.1 million euro ($1.4 million) price tag, a new record for a medicine to treat a rare disease. The sky-high cost of Glybera, from Dutch biotech fir... More »
FRANKFURT/LONDON (Reuters) – Pfizer (PFE.N ) punctured investor expectations of a renewed bid for AstraZeneca (AZN.L ) on Monday by signing a major cancer drug deal with Germany’s Merck KGaA (MRCG.DE ), reducing the U.S. firm’s need for Astra’s products. Merck... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – As large parts of Europe’s economy grind almost to a halt, attention will focus this week on the latest assessments of business confidence in the euro zone and Germany, which has just narrowly avoided a recession. While the United States ... More »
ESSEN Germany (Reuters) – Thomas Middelhoff, once one of Germany’s most prominent and respected business leaders, was convicted of embezzlement and tax evasion by a state court on Friday and immediately taken to jail to start a three-year sentence. Middelhoff,... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone economic growth was stronger than expected in the third quarter, preliminary data showed on Friday, as France beat market expectations and Germany steered clear of a recession. A preliminary estimate by the European Union’s stati... More »
BERLIN/PARIS (Reuters) – Germany narrowly avoided recession in the third quarter of the year and France exceeded low expectations, putting the euro zone on course for anemic growth but no contraction. Europe’s largest economy eked out 0.1 percent growth from t... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – European stocks were flat on Friday after gross domestic product numbers showed both France and Germany grew marginally in the third quarter, while the dollar rose further against the yen on expectations of a snap election in Japan. The Euro... More »
(Reuters) – A veteran Russian cosmonaut and two International Space Station crewmates, one from the United States and one from Germany, returned safely to Earth on Sunday with a parachute landing of their Soyuz capsule in Kazakhstan, ending 5-1/2 months in orb... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – After European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi got his colleagues to sign up to a target for pumping money into the ailing euro zone economy, a raft of GDP reports are likely to show just why more help may be needed. The ECB did not add to i... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The euro zone will need another year to reach even a modest level of economic growth, the European Commission said on Tuesday, calling on Germany to help as Chancellor Angela Merkel again rejected a spending spree. The EU executive cut its... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – After putting the euro zone’s top 130 banks through their paces, the European Central Bank will face a test of its own on Sunday – will its landmark health check succeed in convincing investors the region’s lenders are safe? The ECB will ... More »
LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) – France and Italy will keep pressure on Germany this week to use government money to revive the euro zone’s stagnating economy but in a sign of inertia, a promised list of projects to create growth will not be ready until December. Europe... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Most major world economies are continuing to show stable growth momentum, but within the euro zone Germany and Italy are losing steam, the OECD said on Wednesday. The figures from the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Deve... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Germany’s Bertelsmann (BTGGg.F ) said on Monday it would take full ownership of Gruner + Jahr, publisher of magazines including Stern and Brigitte, as the German media conglomerate looks to speed up a late push into digital media. Europe’... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union antitrust regulators approved on Thursday British broadcaster BSkyB’s planned $9 billion takeover of Rupert Murdoch’s pay-TV companies in Germany and Italy, which will make it the biggest pay-TV provider in Europe. The deal ... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – International Monetary Fund (IMF) head Christine Lagarde urged Germany to increase investments to help spur the euro zone’s flagging economic recovery, adding that the bloc as a whole needed to make more structural reforms. With the euro zone... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Weak investment spending and slow trade led Germany to contract for the first time in over a year in the second quarter, data showed, suggesting Europe’s largest economy is running out of steam just as the impact of the crisis in Ukraine sta... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – The time has come for France to resist Germany’s “obsession” with austerity and promote alternative policies across the euro zone that support household consumption, firebrand French Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg said on Sunday. Deficit-... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s foreign intelligence agency recorded at least one phone conversation held by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, a German magazine said on Saturday, potentially embarrassing Berlin which has reprimanded Washington for its surveilla... More »
BERLIN/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone economic growth ground to a halt in the second quarter as Germany’s economy shrank and France’s stagnated. The zero growth reported by statistics agency Eurostat on Thursday was cause for alarm throughout the 18-nation reg... More »
LONDON/PARIS (Reuters) – Britain’s BSkyB has agreed to pay $9 billion to buy the Rupert Murdoch’s pay-TV companies in Germany and Italy, taking its hunt for growth into Europe by creating a media powerhouse with 20 million customers. Under the deal, BSkyB will... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s BSkyB has agreed to pay 4.9 billion pounds ($8.3 billion) in cash to buy Rupert Murdoch’s pay-TV assets in Germany and Italy, responding to slowing growth at home by creating a European media powerhouse. BSkyB, in which Murdoch’s 2... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s pay-TV group BSkyB will on Friday unveil its multi-billion euro deal to buy Rupert Murdoch’s assets in Italy and Germany, sealing a plan to create a pan-European giant with almost 20 million customers. A person familiar with the si... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – A week on from its World Cup soccer victory, Germany may return to center stage, though this time not with fan celebrations but concerns over the health of Europe’s economic motor. Investors saw dark clouds building on Friday after a Malay... More »
LONDON/MILAN/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – BSkyB’s plan to buy Rupert Murdoch’s pay-TV assets in Italy and Germany for perhaps as much as 10 billion euros is a bold bet on long-term growth at the expense of short-term profit, but the pioneering British media firm has ... More »
BERLIN/KIEV (Reuters) – Germany’s Angela Merkel warned Moscow ahead of talks on Ukraine on Wednesday that economic sanctions remained an option unless it backed peace efforts, as Ukrainian government forces pressed on with an offensive against pro-Russian rebe... More »
New York (Reuters) – Manufacturing activity in the United States and in Asia’s industrial powerhouses China and Japan expanded further in June but euro zone growth faltered as main motor Germany slowed. The U.S. manufacturing sector gained more momentum in Jun... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s lower house of parliament has joined the government in cutting ties with U.S. telecoms firm Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N ), in reaction to a scandal last year over U.S. government spying and allegations firms were handing over ... More »
MUNICH/PARIS (Reuters) – Germany’s Siemens and Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) will present a joint offer for France’s Alstom in Paris on Monday, challenging a General Electric bid that sparked French government concern about retaining jobs and indus... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Support for Germany’s Eurosceptical AfD party has hit a record high in a new poll released on Wednesday, when a European Union political bloc that includes Britain’s ruling Conservatives is due to decide whether to admit the German party as ... More »
BERLIN, (Reuters) – Germany’s private sector expanded for the 13th straight month in May with services activity at its strongest in nearly three years, a survey showed, suggesting Europe’s largest economy is growing solidly. Markit’s final composite Purchasing... More »
CAPE CANAVERAL Fla. (Reuters) – Leaving politics behind, a veteran Russian cosmonaut and a pair of rookie astronauts from the United States and Germany blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday for a six-month mission aboard the Inter... More »
CAPE CANAVERAL Fla. (Reuters) – Leaving politics behind, a veteran Russian cosmonaut and a pair of rookie astronauts from the United States and Germany blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday for a six-month mission aboard the Inter... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Net immigration to Germany leapt by over 18 percent to a 20-year high in 2013, fuelled largely by migrants from euro zone debt-crisis states Italy and Spain as well as a continued influx of Poles, data from the Statistics Office showed on Th... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Germany’s Bayer AG has trumped rival bidders for Merck & Co Inc’s consumer care business in a $14.2 billion deal, adding to a string of major cross-border deals in the healthcare industry. “This acquisition marks a major milestone on our ... More »
PARIS/BERLIN (Reuters) – Japanese casual wear chain Uniqlo opens its first store in Germany on Friday, as it accelerates expansion in Europe in a bid by its parent company Fast Retailing Co Ltd (9983.T ) to become the world’s top fashion retailer by 2020. Fast... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany reached an agreement with an elderly recluse on Monday on the future of a billion-dollar art trove confiscated by authorities, part of which is suspected of being stolen or extorted by the Nazis. The federal government and Bavaria st... More »
ATHENS (Reuters) – Germany is footing much of the bill for Greece’s 237 billion euro bailout but Athens-trained dentist Aristomenis Syngelakis feels no gratitude- Berlin owes his country billions in reparations for Nazi crimes during World War Two, he says. “T... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Veteran blues guitarist and singer Robert Cray has set off on a new U.S. and European tour with an album harking back to the early days of soul music, the kind that filled his ears as a youngster. “In My Soul” – a title that sums up what is ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Germany joined Britain on Thursday in calling for European Union reforms that are fair to (EU) countries outside the euro zone, bolstering British Prime Minister David Cameron’s attempts to placate eurosceptics at home. In a joint editorial ... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The European Central Bank could buy loans and other assets from banks to help support the euro zone economy, Germany’s Bundesbank said, marking a radical softening of its stance on the contested policy. The ECB has cut interest rates to a... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The European Central Bank’s (ECB) determination to subject the euro zone’s largest banks to the same, rigorous checks is being tested, with countries lobbying for their banks to be treated differently and lenders asking for their workload... More »
KARLSRUHE, Germany (Reuters) – Germany’s Constitutional Court upheld the legality of the euro zone’s bailout fund on Tuesday, affirming a preliminary ruling during the debt crisis in 2012 that gave a green light to the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). The c... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s center-left deputy chancellor hailed the jail sentence for tax evasion handed to Bayern Munich soccer boss Uli Hoeness and said the directors of Swiss banks that hide such funds should be hauled before the courts. “I hope we will n... More »
(Reuters) – Germany has granted Northwest Biotherapeutics Inc special permission to sell its experimental brain cancer drug in the country, the company said, and its stock jumped as much as 36 percent. The tiny U.S. biotech received a special “hospital exempti... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU scientists have found that the new car coolant at the centre of a dispute that has pitched regulators against Germany and its luxury carmaker Daimler does not pose any serious safety risks, the European Commission said on Friday. The Co... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Germany is set to accelerate away from France and Italy in 2014 as the fragmented euro zone economy gradually recovers from its worst crisis, the European Commission said on Tuesday. In a departure from the gloom of recent years, Brussels ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Germany and France will lead a face-saving bid this week to revive a flagging project to tax financial transactions in 11 euro zone countries and allay fears it could hamper economic recovery. The tax is expected to be scaled back from an or... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The euro zone and its constituent parts will report fourth quarter economic growth numbers at the end of the week, offering policy makers at the European Central Bank a needed snapshot of the bloc’s underlying strength. Recent evidence has b... More »
KARLSRUHE, Germany (Reuters) – Germany’s Constitutional Court will refer a complaint against the European Central Bank’s flagship bond-buying plan to the European Court, removing the prospect of it curbing the program. The court said on Friday there was good r... More »
HAMBURG/BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany intends to abstain in a European Union vote on the cultivation of a new type of genetically modified maize, a government spokesman said on Wednesday. Some German opposition politicians said an abstention could lead to the Eur... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany must publish the full list of artworks found in the flat of an elderly recluse last year which are mostly believed to have been looted or extorted by the Nazis, a German court ruled on Friday, citing the need for transparency in a ca... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Prime Minister Shinzo Abe compared current tensions between Japan and China to rivalry between Britain and Germany on the eve of World War One, but his top spokesman denied the Japanese leader meant war between Asia’s two big powers was possi... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Representatives from Germany’s financial watchdog Bafin will visit the London offices of Deutsche Bank, the country’s biggest lender, as it steps up investigations into alleged currency market manipulation, a source familiar with the process... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Big losses for Germany’s biggest bank meant European markets started the week on a sour note on Monday as slightly better than expected Chinese data failed to dispel a general air of caution. Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE ) reported a surprise pre... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – The president of Germany’s Bundesbank said on Thursday there was no reason for “irrational inflationary fears” and dismissed suggestions of a danger of the euro zone falling into deflation, echoing the European Central Bank’s outlook. Jens W... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Relations between Germany and the United States are worse now than during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq a decade ago, a leading ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday, in a sign of mounting anger in Berlin over American spying tac... More »
(Reuters) – Forbes Media, the company known for its namesake magazine and ranking the world’s richest people, has caught the attention of six different companies including Germany’s Axel Springer, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Other interes... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Euro zone manufacturing grew at the fastest rate since mid-2011 in December on brisk business in Germany and Italy, setting the stage for a solid start to the year after a tumultuous 2013, a survey showed on Thursday. Markit’s Eurozone Manuf... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union sought to calm fears in countries like Britain, France and Germany that they face a mass influx of Romanians and Bulgarians following the lifting of restrictions on Wednesday, a change that risks fuelling anti-immigrant ... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – When Deutsche Telekom’s new Chief Executive Tim Hoettges takes office on Wednesday, a revival of mergers and acquisitions in the sector and a dramatically changing competitive landscape in Germany will pose his biggest challenges. Having ... More »
